Tractor

In John Steinbecks The grapes of wrath, symbolisim is portrayed throughout the entire book. The tractor itself is used as a symol of power and dominace in society.
 * The Tractor**

Is a tractor bad? Is the power that turns the long furrows wrong? If this tractor were ours it would be good—not min, but ours. If our tractor turned the long furrows of our land, it would be good. Not my land, but ours. We could love that tractor then as we loved this land when it was ours. But this tractor does two things—it turns the land and turns us off the land. There is little difference between this tractor and a tank. The people are driven, intimidated, hurt by both. We must think about this"

“But the machine man, driving a dead tractor on land he does not know and love, understands only chemistry; and he is contemptuous of the land and of itself. When the corrugated iron doors are shut, he goes home, and his home is not the land.”

“Listen to the tractor motor. Listen to the wheels. Listen with your ears and with your hands on the steering wheel; listen with the palm of your hand on the gear-shift lever; listen with your feet on the floor boards. Listen to the pounding old jalopy with all your senses….”